Looking down the page there seems to be a ton of threads with 0 or only a few replies. I thought maybe we could just make a catch-all thread for random announcements and the like.

The Caskstrength team has announced their newest release. For those who don't know, these guys began bottling full strength whiskies in 2011 and plan to release them alphabetically. The first was Arran, followed by BenRiach. I sat on the fence too long and missed BenRiach last fall, but don't think I'll miss this one. It's an interesting choice. C is for Cutty Sark. A full strength blend that, from what I can gather, was blended by Neil and Joel of Caskstrength and then approved by Cutty Sark Master Blender Kirsteen Campbell. Pretty cool. Cutty was one of the whiskies that led me to love Scotch, along with Johnnie Walker Black and Glenfiddich 12. It will be very cool to revisit it under such different circumstances.

An approved cask strength Cutty would be nice. I wonder if the 51.4 is actual cask strength, if so that would be a fairly low cask entry proof.

Yeti

03-26-2013, 13:12

Highland Park's 2nd Valhalla release is in the wild.

http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2013/03/highland-park-loki/

This sounds very exciting, at least with regard to the tasting notes. I love the ostentatious and completely superfluous packaging, but I wish they had switched it up a bit from the Thor release last year. Hopefully it will be reasonably priced here in the US.

I'm guessing the last two releases will be Freya in 2014 and Odin in 2015. They're going to look pretty awesome on the bar once I get the complete set.

ChainWhip

03-26-2013, 14:04

I wouldn't mind getting slobberknockered by Freya ;/)

Yeti

03-27-2013, 06:33

Today is International Whisky Day, an endeavor to honor the late Michael Jackson. No, not that Michael Jackson. From the official announcement:

"On this date let every whisk(e)y lover annually raise a dram - wherever in the world he or she may be - to honour the many unsung heroes of the past and present, who have been crafting the King O' Drinks for centuries and will hopefully continue to do so till the end of time."

One for the rockers - custom made guitars from Lagavulin barrels. I've been playing for 17 years (and drinking for nearly that long :cool:) and this is one of the most desired things I've ever encountered.

A wonderful day for the folks at Johnnie Walker and Diageo! Johnnie Walker Red Label has been named the #1 Scotch Whisky in the world, and deservedly so. I hope everyone has a chance to toast to this delicious dram sometime today. Sláinte!

Johnnie Worker Red Labial the best whisky in the world? That's ridiculous.

squire

04-01-2013, 12:35

The link is a joke but JW Red has been the No. 1 best selling scotch according to those who keep such records.

Yeti

04-01-2013, 13:06

Indeed. As off-putting as Red Label is, all malt lovers owe a great debt to Walker, Chivas, Dewars, Cutty Sark and the like. Without the massive sales of blends around the world it wouldn't be financially viable to make so many single malts available.

squire

04-01-2013, 14:22

I rather like blends myself.

Yeti

04-01-2013, 14:59

I'm partial to JW Black and Cutty Sark.

Parkersback

04-01-2013, 15:02

JWBlack is fine whisky. So is Great King St. Blend, though they are different beasts.

squire

04-01-2013, 15:23

Horses for courses, as they say, one of the advantages of blends is there is one (or more) to suit every taste.

Yeti

04-01-2013, 16:45

JWBlack is fine whisky. So is Great King St. Blend, though they are different beasts.

While they're technically in the same class, I think it's hard to compare the boutique blends like Compass Box's offerings or Duncan Taylor's Black Bull with the mega-blends.

Regardless, they're no Red Labial. And aren't we all lucky there's that final L.

weller_tex

04-04-2013, 13:19

I think JWB is good stuff. Teacher's isn't bad as well. Chivas is good on ice. JW Red..well I can't find much good to say there.